Say What? January 17, 2012 Edition [Reader Post]

First Lady Michelle Obama: “I guess it’s more interesting to imagine this conflicted situation here and a strong woman. But that’s been an image that people have tried to paint of me since the day Barack announced. That I’m some angry black woman.”

Barack Obama: “We can make sure that we are doing right by our environment and, in fact, putting people back to work all across America. When we put in place new common-sense rules to reduce air pollution, we create new jobs building and installing all sorts of pollution-control technology. When we put in place new emissions standards for our vehicles, we make sure that the cars of tomorrow are going to be built right here in the United States of America, that we’re going to win that race.” Keep increasing regulations, and there will be jobs, jobs, jobs for those we need to enforce them. Sadly, many liberals believe that.

President Obama: “I’m not a perfect man. I’m not a perfect president, but I’ve kept this promise: I’ll always tell you what I believe in. I’ll always tell you where I stand. So if you’ve still got that energy, if you’re still fired up … if you want to keep reaching for that vision you hold in your hearts, I promise you, change will come.”

Obama webpage: “Republican candidates for president Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and Newt Gingrich all say they would cut foreign aid to Israel — and every other country — to zero. Stand up to this extreme isolationism and join the call to reject the Romney-Perry-Gingrich plan.” Even the liberal Politifactgives this a “Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire” rating.

Barack Obama: “By the way, you won’t meet harder working folks than some of the folks in these federal agencies. They devote countless hours to trying to make sure that they’re serving the American people, but they will tell you their efforts are constantly undermined by an outdated bureaucratic maze.” This explains, I guess, why they get paid far more than those in the public sector.

Obama: “So, with or without Congress, I’m going to keep at it. But it would be a lot easier if Congress helped.”Oprah Winfrey on Barack Obama: “I think he is, uh, a masterful leader and I think that what it takes to be able to do that on a daily basis and to stand up in a world where everybody is open to attacking you all the time, very hard job…I’m proud of him.”

Oprah Winfrey: “No, I don’t think it’s necessary because my endorsement is that I am a 100% supporter of him. And if he or his office called me tomorrow and said that they needed me I would do whatever I thought would be of service.”

President Obama, to a crowd of supporters: “This will be my last campaign.”

Obama at a Chicago fundraiser, according to transcripts: “The first bill I signed – a bill that said that we’re going to have equal pay for equal work because I want my daughters treated the same way as my sons.”

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz: “The president has responsibility for the green jobs programs where he made investments. But the decisions that were made at Solyndra that ultimately led to their bankruptcy were those of the people who worked at Solandra.”

Debbie Wasserman Schultz: “There is a reason that the Democratic Party is far more diverse than the Republican Party, because the natural home, politically on major issues to Hispanics, to women, to Jews, to Asian-Americans, the diverse spectrum – to African Americans.” She forgot to mention that any woman or minority who reaches a high ranking in the Republican party or as a conservative is savaged by the Democrats and/or by the media: Sarah Palin, Herman Cain, Clarence Thomas, Miguel Estrada and Alberto Gonzales.

Victoria Nuland, the State Department spokeswoman, of an Iranian nuclear scientist who was assassinated: “We condemn any assassination or attack on an innocent person, and we express our sympathies to the family.”

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz: “We need to make sure that we tone things down, particularly in light of the Tucson tragedy from a year ago where my very good friend, Gabby Giffords, who is doing really well by the way, and I know everybody is so thrilled, as I am, to hear that, making tremendous progress. But the discourse in America, the discourse in Congress in particular, to answer your question, very specifically, has really changed. And I’ll tell you, I hesitate to place blame, but I have noticed it take a very precipitous turn towards edginess and a lack of civility with the growth of the Tea Party movement.” Giffords was shot a year ago, and within hours of the shooting, editorials, blogs and even news articles were blaming Sarah Palin, the TEA party or “ramped-up TEA party rhetoric.” Even NPR this week still blames TEA party rhetoric for this shooting. However, behind the scenes, emails were being sent back and forth between those in the justice department, panicked that she may have been shot by a gun let loose in Operation Fast&Furious. Liberal Democrats have an interest in power, but no interest in the truth. If a lie, a misstatement or a half-truth gains them additional votes, then they have no problems offering it up as the truth.

Alan Krueger, chairman of President Obama‘s Council of Economic Advisers explaining why there is great economic inequality): “There have also been important institutional changes that have contributed to the rise in income inequality, including the decline in union membership and fall in the real value of the minimum wage. Tax policy has played a role in rising inequality. Although our tax code is still progressive, tax changes in the early 2000s benefited the very wealthy by much more than other taxpayers, compounding the widening gap in pre-tax earnings.”

Former US president Jimmy Carter: “They have pledged to me and to the world that they will take an objective point of view, the Muslim Brotherhood, and that they will govern as one of the major parties in the new parliament in a balanced way and respect the human rights of others who might have a different approach to religion.”

House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson of Connecticut: “[I would] prefer everything happen in regular order…Of course, we’d love to see regular order, and I dare say so with the president, but when you block these people, when you can’t fill these positions and there seems to be more than a veiled attempt to prevent people from doing their job in terms of the oversight that needs to take place on Wall Street, then of course it was a timely thing for the president to do.”

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) said on MSNBC: “I think it’s a shame that people will be so sophomoric about the questioning of activities with wealth development. I have no problem with Mitt Romney or anybody else making millions, or even billions. What my problem is, is that if you question things done in the name of capitalism, then he calls it being ‘envious.’ I don’t think anybody was envious or fearful of being envious when they fail to question what Bernard Madoff was doing. he did all of that in the name of capitalism. We can question what people are doing and the way they do it and to make sure that people adhere to fair play. This whole issue is about fundamental fairness.”

House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi: “I have a great deal of respect for Ron Paul. He acts upon his convictions and he’s a nice fellow in the Congress of the United States. He’s a gentleman.”

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland concerning the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood that it would “not recognize Israel under any circumstances”: “We’ve seen this press report. I would say that it is one member of the Muslim Brotherhood. We have had other assurances from the party with regard to their commitment not only to universal human rights, but to the international obligations that the Government of Egypt has undertaken.”

Liberal movie maker Michael Moore: “And that’s younger people also, because they’re not as racist as the previous generation. I mean, can I just, can I just throw out one statistic? The only white age group that President Obama won was 18 to 29 year olds. He lost every other white age group. So, I know that may sound depressing, but the hopeful part of it is our young people. They are going to fix this. You know this. Those of us my age, our kids, they’re not bigots, they’re not homophobes. They don’t look at it the way that the grandparents and the great-grandparents did. This is going to get better with the next generations, I believe it.”

Former Vice President Al Gore: “In a moment when the future of civilization is at risk, we need to find a way to talk about how we deal with [global warming].”

Question on a 3rd grade worksheet for some Georgian students: “Each tree had 56 oranges. If 8 slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?” Got to be a lib teacher here.

Obama is losing his far, far left:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez: “[The United States is] not going to be able to dominate this world. Forget about it (President Barack) Obama, forget about it. It would be better to think about the problems in your country, which are many.”

The Compliant Obama Press Corps:
Political analyst Goldie Taylor to CNN Newsroom host Don Lemon concerning “recent racially-insensitive incidents among several GOP candidates.”: “Let’s be clear, these are not stumbles or miscues, these are absolutely planned, seeded, on-purpose stuff.”

Politico‘s Evan Thomas (previously at Newsweek): “It’s interesting that Perry stayed in because there is still this angry, white, middle class male out there that is a seething force, and Romney is not really their guy. It’s not clear who is, I’m not sure, I mean, Santorum for the moment, but in some ways, that is a force to be tapped, and nobody’s really found a way to do it.”

Newsweek‘s Allison Samuels to liberal New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor, who did not portray the first lady reverently enough in her new book: “Surely it would be impossible to ignore the grace, charm and intellect of the 5’11” Chicago native, with her Harvard Law degree, committed marriage, and two young daughters. Society would come to realize that Michelle Obama was not the exception but more often the rule in the black community.”

Time Magazine’s Ideas blog: A number of justices long for a fairytale world where “government can insist on a certain modicum of decency,” as Justice Antonin Scalia archly observed. Chief Justice John Roberts, a father of young kids, plaintively noted that “all we are asking for is a few channels” where kids won’t be exposed to profanity and sexual acts. Justice Elena Kagan opined that “it seems to be a good thing to have a safe haven” during prime time. A safe haven on television? How quaint. Leaving aside the availability of profanity and sex to anyone with cable or a laptop, the Supreme Court justices – and most Americans – are kidding themselves if they think keeping F-bombs off TV will keep children safe. It’s like taking your car to be detailed when the brake pads are worn out: it deflects attention from what really matters.

Bob Shieffer on CBS News on Mitt Romney’s statement, “I like to fire people”: “You know, his people are saying it was taken out of context but, you know, when people are out of work, there are certain words that you just avoid—saying, I like to fire people is just one of them, whatever the context that was taken in.” This 3½ minute story never once mentions what the context is.

Bill Moyers (from PBS), after praising George Soros, adds: “He has been the victim, of course, of Glenn Beck and the right wing, the Fox News assassins.”

MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry: “Well, I think there is a lot of things that they (Republicans) like about 1860. Obviously, part of it is a clear kind of racial discourse. This is about states’ rights and states’ rights are all kinds of discriminatory possibilities. One is certainly about African-Americans, about voting rights, but the other piece of it has been this profound anti-immigration legislation that states have passed, these marriage equality — states rights becomes a cover for talking about the ability to remove the rights of some American citizens because those citizens’ rights exist in the states rather than as national rights.” At the bottom of the screen was a large banner which read “Party Like It’s 1860″ and there were the faces of 3 Republican candidates on it. Yep, that is what Republicans want, segregation, Jim Crow laws, and voter restrictions for the coloreds. Does this have anything at all to do with news? She has not even the slightest interest in the truth. Essentially these people get on MSNBC and just make stuff up. This one came with graphics.

Liberals from the past:

Che Guevara: “To establish Socialism rivers of blood must flow.”

January 2009 report by the Obama administration: “In the absence of stimulus, the economy could lose another 3 to 4 million more [jobs]. Thus, we are working to counter a potential total job loss of at least 5 million. As Figure 1 shows, even with the large prototypical package, the unemployment rate in 2010Q4 is predicted to be approximately 7.0%, which is well below the approximately 8.8% that would result in the absence of a plan.”Liberal civility:

David Axelrod: “Governor Romney may be rooting for slips and falls here [in the economy]. We’re concentrating on moving this economy forward.”

Bill Press: “[Newt Gingrich] is the suicide bomber of the Republican party; he knows he’s not going to win…he’s not in it to win it anymore, he’s in it to take down as many people as he can as he goes down, and he has that same silly grin on his face as he pulls the plug as the suicide bomber.”

Bill Press : “I couldn’t believe it and then I looked up at the screen and there he was on his knees with his hand up to his head in the pose that he has now made famous. It was Tebow doing the Tebow and I just wanted to throw up,”Wasserman-Schultz on candidate Rick Santorum’s support of a federal marriage amendment, which would annul same-sex marriages: “That would be un-American, undemocratic and entirely inappropriate and unacceptable.”

Leftist talk radio host Mike Malloy continuously wishes for the death of conservatives: “I think he’s Catholic, right? What you ought to do is call Francis Cardinal George out in Chicago and maybe you and he can get together for a cup of — hemlock.”

Malloy: “I hate to see an organization like the Catholic Church — that has been one of the bloodiest, most suppressive, most oppressive, most violent organizations in the history of not just religion but of the entire human race try to claim victim status because a bunch of queers want to march a parade down the g*d*m street! That’s what drives me crazy!”

Bill Maher about what he said to Herman Cain: “I don’t, like, hate your f—— guts…like I hate Newt Gingrich.”

Crazy Muslims:

Thousands of Iranian mourners chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” over nuclear scientists who have been assassinated.

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In Tunisia:Crowd: “The people want the liberation of Palestine.

The people want the liberation of Palestine.”

Crowd member: “Killing the Jews.”

Crowd: “.is a duty.”

Crowd member: “Killing the Jews.”

Crowd: “.is a duty.”

Crowd member: “Driving out the Jews.”

Crowd: “.is a duty.”

Crowd member: “Driving out the Jews.”

Crowd: “.is a duty.”

Crowd member: “Crushing the Jews.”

Crowd: “.is a duty.”

Crowd member: “Crushing the Jews.”

Crowd: “.is a duty.”

Prior to the Arab Spring, this would have never occurred.

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Egyptian cleric Salem Abu Al-Futuh, in a sermon given on Al-Nas TV: “They are doing all kinds of things so that people keep suffering. They send Christian missionaries in the form of doctors and nurses, who caress and embrace the child, like they do in the West. They give him a very beautiful toy, and all of a sudden, they snatch it away from him. When the child screams: ‘Where is my toy?!’, they say to him: ‘Muhammad stole it from you.’ Thus, from infancy, they make the child hate Muhammad. That’s what they do in Spain.” Not even a passing interest in the truth, which is why I used to lump Muslims in with the liberals.

Liberals making sense:

Chris Matthews: “Here it is, Hardball, coming back in just a moment on MBSNBC.”

Christian Dorsey (economic commentator for FoxNews): “It may not be the Volt that sets the world afire.” He did not fully realize what he had said.Moderates/Affiliation Unknown:

Meghan McCain, the daughter of Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain on the book on the Obama in the White House: “They can write whatever they want; they’re still in office—I have no problem with this type of thing being written when they are out of office. I think some small emoticon of privacy . And granted, I’m no fan of the Obama’s, but in general, I’m a Republican—but I’m just saying, they deserve some small emoticon, I mean it’s okay for her, I mean continue.”

Meghan McCain: “I’m a big proponent of gay marriage; It has isolated me in Republican circles. People don’t think I’m Republican enough because I’m a big advocate of marriage equality in this country. But I’m very proud to do it. My mother joined me. You know, I just – it’s one of the reasons why love being in politics. I just think this is my generation’s civil rights issue…I think if Ronald Reagan were running today, he would be called a dirty moderate like me, unfortunately.”

Mercedes-Benz Chairman of the Board of Management Dieter Zetsche: “Some colleagues still think that car-sharing borders on communism. But if that’s the case, viva la revolucion!” A picture of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara loomed large over Zetsche and Che‘s signature beret sported a Mercedes logo. Mercedes-Benz has since privately apologized for this commercial.

Ted Nagengast, the New Jersey Bay Shore schools athletics chair, of devices that will be used to monitor some overweight kids: “It’s a great reinforcement in fighting the obesity epidemic. It tells kids, in real time, `Am I active? Am I not active?’ We want to give kids the opportunity to become active.”

Crosstalk:

Warren Buffett to Time magazine: “It restores my faith in human nature to think that there are people who have been around Washington all this time and are not yet so cynical as to think that [the deficit] can’t be solved by voluntary contributions. And, I’ll even go three for one for McConnell.”

Mitch McConnell spokesman Don Stewart: “And since some, like President Obama and Mr. Buffett want to pay higher taxes, Congress made it possible for them to call their own bluff and send in a check. So I look forward to Mr. Buffett matching a healthy batch of checks from those who actually want to pay higher taxes, including Congressional Democrats, the President and the DNC.” Warren Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, still owes taxes back to 2002
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Interviewer: “Some people say they’re disappointed in Barack Obama’s presidency, that is hasn’t accomplished all that they thought that it would or all that he said it would.”

Michelle Obama: “They don’t know. They don’t know all that. You know, this campaign is going to be all about making sure that people understand all that’s been accomplished. I think people are confused about, some may be confused by how much have been [sic] accomplished.”
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Bill Maher: The other is what he said, you know, he says things that at almost every Republican debate, the rest of the people in the audience and on the stage who look at him like he has three heads. And one of the things he says is, “We got an empire, and we should bring all the troops home.” He’s the one who is really in my heart on foreign affairs, not Barack Obama.

[Tepid applause]

Rob Reiner: Only a smattering you got on that, Bill. You notice that? It was a small smattering.

Former Army lieutenant colonel Rep. Allen West: “I have sat back and assessed the incident with the video of our Marines urinating on Taliban corpses. I do not recall any self-righteous indignation when our Delta snipers Shugart and Gordon had their bodies dragged through Mogadishu. Neither do I recall media outrage and condemnation of our Blackwater security contractors being killed, their bodies burned, and hung from a bridge in Fallujah. All these over-emotional pundits and armchair quarterbacks need to chill. Does anyone remember the two Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division who were beheaded and gutted in Iraq?”

Sarah Palin, when told that her husband came out in support of Newt Gingrich: “First dude went rogue.”

Sarah Palin, after seeing a clip of Michelle Obama saying that most people were confused about what the president has accomplished: “Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord – what are we—just a bunch of numbskulls out here in the heartland of America? Just a bunch of numbskulls who can’t read the unemployment numbers and see that 5 trillion dollars in new debt later under her husband, President Obama. 5 trillion dollars more! And we have fewer jobs today than we had before we took over, but, no, we’re numbskulls out here and we don’t know what the numbers actually represent!”
Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: “Those who underestimate the Barack Obama underestimate him at their own peril. He is as good a politician as I’ve ever seen.”

Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, the hawkish former ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush: “I think Gov. Romney is the person who can best lead the party, best articulate our conservative principles and is most likely to beat Barack Obama.”

John Bolton explained why President Obama ought not to take any credit for the killing of Usama Bin Laden: “It’s because navy seal team 6 killed Usama bin Laden. that’s his definition of success. as somebody pointed out, in 1969 when Americans landed on the moon, it’s like Richard Nixon taking for credit for that, because it happened to occur during his presidency.”

Mitt Romney: “This election is a choice between two very different destinies. President Obama wants to ‘fundamentally transform’ America. We want to restore America to the founding principles that made this country great. He wants to turn America into a European-style entitlement society. We want to ensure that we remain a free and prosperous land of opportunity. This President takes his inspiration from the capitals of Europe; we look to the cities and small towns of America.”

Greg Gutfeld: “Capitalism is the tide that raises all boats. Socialism attempts to legislate the tide.”

Mitt Romney: “I want individuals to have their own [healthcare] insurance. That means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep you healthy. It also means if you don’t like what they do, you can fire them. I like being able to fire people who provide [inadequate or unsatisfactory] services to me.”Jon Huntsman, coming in 3rd in New Hampshire: “We only go south from here.”Jodi Miller: “The Grand Warlock of Mexico is predicting that President Obama will not be reelected, and he should know—he’s also Obama’s immigration advisor.”Jodi Miller: “The Obama campaign is looking for a theme song. Actually, the campaign already has 3 theme songs: the opening music for the ABC, NBC and CBS newscasts.”

Rush Limbaugh: “People getting fired is part of life. It’s nothing unique to capitalism. It’s nothing unique to humanity.”

Rush Limbaugh: “In the so-called conservative media establishment, I know there are people who think that the view that the country’s in peril and that we are facing a forever transformation from which we can’t come back, they don’t think that. To them, $16 trillion of national debt’s no different than five trillion. As long as we keep making the interest payments we’re cool.”

Rush Limbaugh: “Rush Limbaughisms? So this babe thinks that this is forcing Romney to parrot me? If Romney were parroting me he would have the nomination sewn up!”

Rush Limbaugh: “I’m all for vetting candidates — I’m all for finding out just exactly who they are and I’m all for finding out if they can defend themselves — but I don’t think you tear down the engine of freedom or any other conservative principle in the process of doing all this.”

Rush Limbaugh: “The Democrat Party has made a lifetime career out of bashing every successful corporate entity in this country. Big Oil, Big Drug, Big Pharmaceutical, Big Walmart, Big Retail, ‘Big’ whatever. Look at their enemies list.”Rush Limbaugh: “All capitalism is, is the American dream, for crying out loud! Without capitalism, there is no American dream. Sorry. There cannot be an American dream to pursue without capitalism.”

Rush Limbaugh: “Everything to practically everyone who works in Washington, the Gospel of Wealth is why they are there. The Gospel of Wealth is why they want to get the Senate and the committee chairmanships! They want to be in charge of the money.”

Rush Limbaugh: “The Government does not have to make a profit running anything. I give you the Volt. They don’t care! The Volt ends up costing $250,000 per car when you account for all the subsidies and everything else.”

Rush Limbaugh: “Reagan defended conservatism. This is the thing that people forget. Reagan taught conservatism. When he talked about cutting taxes, he explained how it benefited the middle class, how it benefited everybody. And everything Reagan taught was oriented around reducing the size and role of government in people’s lives, which equals more and more freedom.”

Conservatives not making any sense:

Jon Huntsman told Politico. “I believe we are in one such cycle. I think that cycle ultimately takes us to a sane Republican Party based on real ideas.”

Jon Huntsman: “I’d say third place is a ticket to ride, ladies and gentleman.”

Ron Paul on the 3 assassinations of nuclear scientists in Iran: “Well, obviously, if we’re doing this, we shouldn’t be doing it. This is an act of terrorism. I can empathize with them; these are victims of terrorism and we have condemned all terrorism…we should have great empathy for ‘em.“